Inherit
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: M-21 got more than a boost of power when Rai awakened him.


**Summary**: M-21 got more than a boost of power when Rai awakened him.

Set after season 3.

There's should be a second version of this at some point in the future. If I can remember what it is, ha...

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**Inherit  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

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M-21 smirked at Regis, dodging the other's punch. Their spar had lasted a while, neither of them pushed hard enough to transform or call on more power. Yet.

Regis scowled, pressing forward, continuing to jab at him.

"Is that it?" M-21's comment came out a little breathless, as he'd managed to keep only a few steps ahead of Regis and both of them knew it. Regis had gotten better, which meant he had to improve as well.

Regis' scowl deepened, and M-21 sucked in a breath, the air charging as Regis called out his aura.

Fuck. M-21 wasn't going to be able to dodge in time, Regis already moving towards him. Not the way he was at that moment.

M-21 scrambled to transform, _needing_ the extra boost of speed. It came as easily as it normally did, the back of his hands itching, the strange ache at his nails.

The change at his back was something new, unexpected.

He gasped, stumbling forward a step, trying to adjust to the massive weight at his back, his brain trying to tell him he had sprouted fucking _arms_ on his back, the wrists above his head and pointing down. They were too heavy to just be arms though, dragging at his back, something brushing his calves.

No-one was saying anything, silence permeating the room, and when M-21 lifted his head, he was met with wide eyes or dropped jaws.

What had his transformation done _this_ time? It wasn't anything M-21 had felt before and he didn't _think_ it lined up with anything he'd heard about werewolf myths...

He turned his head to see what had come out of him and -

What the fuck.

There were feathers behind him. Silver feathers the same colour as his hair.

What the fuck was he doing with a pair of _wings_ on his back?

"You look like an angel!"

Shit, someone had to stop Tao before he continued. Only Takeo was close enough, but it looked like he was also caught off guard by what had happened, not moving in time. Fuck.

"Like, a furry angel! Why didn't you tell us you have angel lu - mmph!" Tao looked pleadingly in Takeo's direction, his eyes even wider now, trying to remove Takeo's hand from his mouth. Takeo didn't move, shaking his head.

"That's because I didn't know," M-21 said with a sigh, ignoring the rest of what Tao said. "Frankenstein didn't say anything." And if there was anyone he trusted who would know how his body was modified, it was Frankenstein.

Tao managed to pry Takeo's fingers off his face, ducking away before Takeo could cover his mouth again.

"Can you change back?" Tao held his hands up in a placating manner at Takeo, waving his hands. Takeo paused and then lowered his arms.

"Should be able to," M-21 said, frowning as he rolled his shoulders, the wings flexing in tandem. That…was weird.

He concentrated on transforming back, feeling it recede, the wings shrinking. And it was like the wings were covered in hair, all of them getting tugged at once.

By the time it stopped, Tao was walking towards him, spinning a hand in the air. "Can you turn around?"

"...Why?" What did Tao want now?

Tao's lips twitched. "We have to know if you need a new shirt."

He grimaced, turning around. Right. During spars, he had been able to keep his shirt intact for most of them, but if he had to throw a shirt out every time for that too... He may as well start a spar shirtless and save money.

"Woah." Great, another ruined shirt. "Nothing," Tao said. "It looks like nothing happened."

…That didn't make a lot of sense. "That's one thing I don't have to worry about," M-21 muttered under his breath, tugging on his shirt to make sure. It stayed in place. Did he imagine he had wings? The others wouldn't have responded to it though.

"Heh," Tao said, patting him on the shoulder, "Boss'll know what's up."

"Yeah." If he didn't, no-one else would.

xOx

"Frankenstein?" There was a sweet smell clinging to the air of the main lab, saying Frankenstein should be there to keep an eye on whatever new thing he was creating.

"Yes?" Frankenstein had his clipboard in hand (he'd mentioned once -or twice- that he preferred the drag of a pen on paper rather than on a tablet), turning away from one of the machines. M-21 hadn't seen it being used before.

Lips pursed, he approached Frankenstein. "My transformation changed again."

"Oh?" The curious tilt of his eyebrows encouraged M-21 to continue.

"I grew wings." Frankenstein's eyebrows shot up, his eyes widening. That look of concern wasn't something M-21 was used to seeing directed at him - that was something only reserved for Frankenstein's master. "They...were silver." M-21's account slowed at Frankenstein's reaction. Did he know what was wrong or had Frankenstein no idea?

"I see..." Frankenstein studied him. "This isn't in your DNA."

M-21 had gathered as much.

Frankenstein cleared his throat. "It seems Master has done more than awakened your power."

... "He gave me wings." How did _that_ work?

"It would appear so, yes." Frankenstein closed his eyes, pushing his glasses up his nose. "When Master unleashes enough power, he also summons a pair of wings."

It was something Frankenstein's master could do. Frankenstein's master had given him more than awakened powers and a home? "Oh..."

"I would be careful or using you power in the meantime," Frankenstein warned, opening his eyes. "Until we can be sure there are no adverse effects to this."

"All right." M-21 nodded. He could do that.

xOx

M-21 left the lab a little later, Frankenstein doing some checks on him to see if anything else about him had changed. So far, at a quick glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Yooo!" M-21 didn't stop Tao from slinging his arm around his shoulders. "So what was the diagnosis? Angel lungs? Angel stomach? You've been keeping us in suspense!"

Only Tao, he was sure. But he still had to say something to Tao's questions before his theories got wilder.

"_He_ passed them onto me." It wasn't like he kept anything from the others anyway.

Tao's eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded. "When he awakened me. And Frankenstein's said I couldn't transform for a while," M-21 added, watching him.

Tao's face fell. "Damn," he said, snapping his fingers. "I _knew_ I should have taken some pictures!"

"You have your video." M-21 rolled his eyes. Tao recorded every spar - he could have as many pictures as he wanted.

"Yeah," Tao huffed, waving his arms wide, "but none of you _posing_."

"And you wouldn't have gotten any."

"Mmhm, mmhm." Tao didn't seem dissuaded in the slightest.

M-21 had the sinking feeling Tao would have been able to convince him, given enough time.

"Aaanyway," Tao said, "there's a whole bunch of food waiting for you upstairs." He paused. "Unless the others ate it all already."

"I doubt it," M-21 said with a snort. That would only happen if the children were with them and they had already gone home hours ago.

"You never know," Tao drew out, grinning.

"I'll be fine." If all the food was gone, he could heat some from the fridge. He wasn't _that_hungry; he could wait.

"No, you won't – it's _Miss Seira's_ cooking," Tao said. "You don't want to miss that!"

He could, but Tao would probably end up dragging him to the living room if he tried to avoid eating. "All right, fine."

Tao beamed. "Great!"

As they were walking up the stairs, Tao mused, "I wonder if I'd get wings if _he_ awakened my powers…"

"He won't need to," M-21 said with a snort. Tao was stronger than him and didn't have any mythical being's organs inside his body; it was that simple.

"Yeah, I know." Tao puffed air through his lips. "Still, I think it'd be cool if I had black wings!"

Of course Tao would. M-21 put the thought behind him, distracted by the tantalising smells coming from the living room.

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Haaaa, what are endings. And that last part was not planed _at all_. Orz;


End file.
